We were happily surprised to find that in addition to being a totally eye-catching piece of iconic architecture<a href="http://www.herbgreene.org/GREENE%20IMAGES/Architecture/BUILT%20WORK/Prairie%20House/PRAIRIE%20HOUSE.html"> Herb Greene's crazy 1960s Prairie House</a> was an early example of conscious green design. We have featured several examples of pre-industrial age architecture that had no choice but to incorporate green thinking into their design, as well as everything that has been developed since the 1970s environmental movement, but Greene's personal home (dubbed the "Prairie Chicken House" by Look Magazine) was conceived a decade before green thinking even became popular. Everything that we now associate with smart architecture can be found in this, ahem, interesting house: <a href="http://inhabitat.com/beautiful-bahia-house-showcases-natural-materials-and-smart-design/">natural materials</a>, passive design, natural lighting and ventilation, energy efficiency, and careful site placement. Technology has come a long way since Herb Greene and Julius Shulman took these rather grainy photographs, but we thought our readers might enjoy a small glimpse at this design that came before its time.

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

We don't usually expect green architecture from the modernists

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

But Herb Greene's Prairie House design came before its time

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

It has a simple timber construction

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

And unfinished cedar shingles that give the home a feathered effect

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

An early example of passive design

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

The Prairie house gets its warmth and natural lighting from careful orientation

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

We're not so wild about the shag carpet, but it definitely is "warm!"

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

The home was also designed to resist fierce prairie winds

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

This is the first floor plan by Herb Greene

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

It is definitely a strange design

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

Dubbed the "Chicken Priairie House" by Look Magazine in the 1960s

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

But we think it's a super example

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

Of what good intention and nature-centric thinking can provide

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Prairie House by Herb Greene

We were happily surprised to find that in addition to being a totally eye-catching piece of iconic architecture Herb Greene's crazy 1960s Prairie House was an early example of conscious green design. We have featured several examples of pre-industrial age architecture that had no choice but to incorporate green thinking into their design, as well as everything that has been developed since the 1970s environmental movement, but Greene's personal home (dubbed the "Prairie Chicken House" by Look Magazine) was conceived a decade before green thinking even became popular. Everything that we now associate with smart architecture can be found in this, ahem, interesting house: natural materials, passive design, natural lighting and ventilation, energy efficiency, and careful site placement. Technology has come a long way since Herb Greene and Julius Shulman took these rather grainy photographs, but we thought our readers might enjoy a small glimpse at this design that came before its time.